Picture Credit: Twitter
Rey Mysterio was wrestling against Latino World Order member Santos Escobar on Friday’s WWE Smackdown when the match had to be abruptly called off after a botched stunt injured the WWE legend. After hitting his head following an outside dive, the referee called the game off and the broadcast cut to commercials while Mysterio was attended by medical staff. While some fans speculated that it was part of a storyline and that the event was scripted, it was later confirmed by wrestling reporters that it was indeed a genuine injury and not pre-planned. The 48-year-old is fortunately recovering and even congratulated Escobar on his win.
The stunt was a suicide dive by Escobar onto Mysterio outside the ring. It was botched, however, and when Escobar landed on Mysterio and took him down with the momentum, the legendary wrestler hit his head on the ground and lay injured. The broadcast cut to an ad break almost immediately and when the program returned Mysterio was visibly being attended by a doctor. Referee Jessika Carr then called off the match. According to wrestling reporter Sean Ross Sapp, it was not scripted, and the move was performed incorrectly.
He wrote on Twitter, “After speaking with additional sources, we've learned the Mysterio injury was not storyline as originally suggested. Santos Escobar was scheduled to go over clean and there was to be a backstage segment follow up that got nixed.”
Botched move might have been cover for exis ting injury
Further reports said that Mysterio’s head hit the ground and bounced back up, also stating that the iconic wrestler had suffered a concussion. Escobar ended up winning the match, but looked visibly upset despite his triumph.
There were also reports that the injury to Mysterio was not suffered at the moment of the botched suicide dive, but actually at a previous point in the match. Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that Mysterio had actually suffered an injury earlier in the match and that the botched dive was staged to provide some kind of ending to the match when it was clear that Mysterio could not continue wrestling anymore.
While Escobar was scripted to win the match, it was supposed to be a clean win and not in the manner that took place. It is an unfortunate situation all round, and fans of wrestling will hope Mysterio makes a swift recovery.
Santos Escobar is set to challenge US champion Austin Theory on August 11 at the Saddledome in Calgary, Canada.
